Emelin, Diaz healthy scratches for Habs against Penguins

Defencemen Alexei Emelin and Raphael Diaz (photo above) will be healthy scratches when the Canadiens take on the Penguins Wednesday night in Pittsburgh (7 p.m., TSN, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

Coach Michel Therrien made the announcement after Wednesday’s morning skate. David Desharnais, who is battling the flu, didn’t take part in the morning skate but is expected to play.

Forward Louis Leblanc and defenceman Nathan Beaulieu, both called up from Hamilton, will be in the lineup for the Canadiens. Leblanc will be on a line with Travis Moen and Michael Bournival, while Beaulieu will be paired with Josh Gorges.

“It’s still just a game, but playing against the Penguins is special,” Leblanc told reporters in Pittsburgh after the morning skate. “They have some great players over there. I’m excited. The coach hasn’t given me any special directions or anything, but I’ll just go out there and do whatever they ask of me. I’ve improved my game both offensively and defensively in Hamilton and I’ve been given more and more responsibility on the ice. The coaches are happy with my game. I’ve earned a chance to be here tonight and it will be another test for me.”

After Wednesday’s game, the Canadiens travel to Detroit, where they will face the Red Wings Friday night. Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will visit the Bell Centre Saturday night.

373 Comments

To me, Emelin came back too soon, and I wish he wasn’t going to Sochi. He has really lost a lot of game since last spring, maybe even some weight, he looks gaunt. I’m a huge fan of the Emelin we knew last year, let’s hope he finds himself soon. As for Diaz, huge drop off from last year, maybe because he had that edge on other guys post-lockout having played well in Switzerland. But we can’t be too quick on dealing him or anyone else on the D side, next year is looking a little uncertain.

Playing the Penguins with Emelin out and Beaulieu playing on the right side, this would be a bad game for PK to take a penalty at the end of a period.

Fortunately they have MT who will always, always, always put the team first and even if they don’t win the game we all know in the long run, it will pay back dividends. The Chicago win in overtime is there to prove it.

Yes, the Habs are 0-2-1 since that game, and were outscored 14 to 8, but that’s short term, unless they win.

Hrudey: “Who in the world would trade for this guy? Come on, that’s a joke they’re saying teams are calling for him and everything. It’s a great start for Calgary right, 3-0? Have you noticed him? You know, this guy — and I’m going to say this politely — but this guy’s passion meter isn’t low on a scale of one to 10…it’s turned off. This guy has to learn that you actually have to have passion in a game, that you can play with hatred.

“The four Hall-of-Famers that we had in the pregame show [Doug Gilmour, Mark Howe, Ed Belfour, Joe Nieuwendyk] talked about the compete level of athletes. There are a lot of guys that have talent and this guy…I don’t even think he cares about the game. He should apologize to his teammates and start playing. He’s got 66 games to go to actually care.”

Emelin a healthy scratch against the Pens of all teams, tells you all you need to know about Therrien & his coaching staff. Alexei is a stud defenceman but unfortunately is playing for a useless coach that has no sense of coaching. I’ve had it with this circus.

Emelin is struggling. He was very poor in Toronto. His press box pass I get. I don’t understand the choice to dress Bouilion, who was equally inept on Saturday, but will reserve further judgement until after puck drop.

Really? Emelin is a dman we will be paying 4 m next season. Someone who came back from a very serious injury. He´s played 28 games this season, all on the right. ALL!

Play him ten games on the left and he still sucks: Fine, scratch him but sitting him without having played him on his natural side in one single game? That´s pure lunacy. Even more so when you have Bouillon and Murray in the lineup.

You won’t get an argument from me regarding the merits of Emelin over Boulion.

I believe I offered a respectful reply to the original poster. I feel I was diplomatic.

I re watched the Toronto game yesterday. Emelin was not good. Not good at all. I’m simply saying if you were basing the decision on performance, I can understand the logic, even if I don’t agree with it.

The material speaks for itself. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you in person and acknowledge that things can get lost in translation, but your posts don’t exactly portray you as the world’s kindest person.

I don’t think so. Emelin hasn’t played a single game on his natural side after returning from a serious injury. Habs haven’t given him all the required support and chances to successfully reintegrate. Let’s just say he didn’t get Dahveed Dayharnay level of support.

How do i put this, I hate the fact we fire coaches as often as some change their underwear. It sucks for the present time though, and even though this site doesn’t make it easy, you can read my posts when he was hired that I didn’t like it, but was willing to trust MB on the choice. I am giving the entire regime (have given) 2 years minimum. Because change for the sake of change doesn’t always produce results.

Therrien might be an alright coach but not for this situation. Montreal is “re-toolin”, Therrien is trying to stay employed (and a tool haha);
Therrien’s style is better suited for a “lunch pail” type team, again not Montreal’s strength.;
Therrien does not trust the young bucs. Montreal’s best players (plus Plekanec and Markov) are young bucs.

Why is fence sitting seen as such a bad thing? Why must it be an either/or situation? Taking a strong position simply to hold a strong position isn’t not the wisest of courses.

I do not think the Habs are atrocious. I do not think the Habs are flawless.

I think the Habs are decent, but need improvement. That’s my opinion and my belief. What is wrong with it? Why should I betray my belief to show that “I have Balls” by stating something that I don’t believe. (Thus proving I don’t “have the balls” to stand strong behind my belief).

Do I think Therrien is a good coach? Meh. He’s better than some and worse than others.

Jack Adams winner? No. Worst coach in the league? No.

That’s an honest opinion. Not necessary the strongest or loudest. But it’s mine. And I own it.

Unfortunately, not everything is black and white. I predicted the Habs to finish 6th in the conference, bt I don’t really expect them to win the Cup. Does that make me a fence sitter? I also happen to think Therrien is a decent coach. I would have preferred Patrick Roy, but Therrien was hired. I thought he had done well with a very young pens team and was a big part of the reason they got to a 2nd Cup Final before he was fired. That doesn’t mean I think he’s the best coach out there. Every coach will do things we fans don’t all agree with. Therrien does things that puzzle me, but he’s gotten this team to win more games than I thought he would.

Not sure how any of that makes me (or others) fence sitters. If the question is would I like a better coach to be coaching the Habs, then the answer is yes. The answer will always be yes to that question.

Go Habs Go!!

“Fans are great, but the quickest way to start losing is to listen to them.” – Sam Pollock

I think he’s a poor coach. I think he sold the Hab management a bill of goods when he convinced them that he had changed. I don’t think he has changed at all.

That said, this team has significant holes in very important places on its roster. They are still significance undersized up the middle, they have a less then average defense on the back end, and they have way too many 3 and a-half liners playing top 6 minutes.

It’s hard to place ALL the blame on the coach. At best his current grade may even be higher then the GM who seems to go unscathed here much to often.

It’s a flawed roster with the wrong coach but in spite of all this, with Price, PK, Pleks, Markov, Galchenyuk, and Patches, there is enough talent to make a stink in the playoffs,

I’m going to be in Toronto the week of the Olympic tourney. I’ll be spending every available second with family, but I see that the Can-Finland game is on at midday EDT. If one were to watch that game in a public location, where might be amenable to HIOers not working that day?

Sorry Mike but the schedule I’m looking at has the Canada-Finland game taking place on Sun. Feb. 16 at 9pm (I’m assuming Russian time (in fact, it looks as though all the Canadian games are at 9pm). That being said, you’re more likely to attract fellow HIOers in the evening than at mid-day.http://cdnolympic.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/ice-hockey-draw_eng.pdf

Please know you are welcome to make the trip down the QEW to Burlington. Perhaps we can drag LafleurGuy out to join us watching the game. Heck bring your whole family, I’ll give them keys to the house (always cleaning to be done) and we go to my pub, will make sure you are treated beyond hospitably!

Heck, we can make Chuck and Kooch come join us as well! We can’t call it a Summit, that is already in use, we’ll come up with something!

Thanks for the invite. Doubt I’ll be able to get away long enough for that round trip, but I’d love it if it were in any way possible. I still have no actual evidence that any of you is real! You could all just be elaborate figments of Mike Boone’s imagination!

Wow Jim! That would be amazing. But I fear plans will be fluid that week. Good thing about midday faceoff is that my siblings and their spouses will all be at work and their kids in school. Mum might be persuaded to watch hockey…

Mike Smith won’t be bringing his family to Sochi because of the security concerns. He has 2 kids, another on the way. Can anyone blame the guy for thinking this way? If so, check out the second to last paragraph of the above article:

“According to a report from the Washington Post, Russian security officials are hunting down a trio of potential suicide bombers, one of whom is believed to be in Sochi.”

My thought process here is that Markov is a solid 1-B or 2 on pretty much any team in the NHL. And he’s so cerebral that he’ll probably remain effective for another 5 years, barring any freak injuries. But those are a risk for anyone so that’s moot. MDZ and Klein are both 5-6 guys, maybe 3-4 if they blossom (unlikely at their ages, but possible).

I just place way more value on 5 years of a top 2 guy than I do on 7-9 years of two middling (depth chart-wise) defenders.

Emelin will be Emelin again after the Olympics…whether intentional or not I have zero doubt he is playing cautiously right now…the Olympics in Russia? htat is something very few players get to do…play on an Olympic team..and on their home soil! That is what many kids overseas growing up dreaming about…not the Stanley CUp as awful as that is for us to imagine….I have zero doubt that once the Olympics are over that Emelin will be hitting everything that moves again…

All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost, All is lost,

there, is that the required ante to get into the Game of Moans here at HIO?

It’s a snow day here, so I nestled down in bed and read it all. All of it. All of today’s comments on the lineup.

So, nothing new to add here.

Our D is so broken. It might not even be the wrong thing to do to scratch Diaz and Emelin; they have been brutal. But any mix of players once past Markov, Subban, Gorges is so scary. I fear the Pens are going to have a romp tonight.

Good luck to Nate B. This doesn’t seem to be the right game to throw him into. Hope he has fun!

And yet, up to recently, the team was fourth in the league in goals against. They went through a stretch of a good 20-25 games playing very scroogy defence; Therrien somehow managed to get that out of them. I am at a loss to explain this team; it is the most schytsophrenis habs team I have ever seen.

That could be a good pair . Beaulieu needs someone to stay back there cause he tends to attack and leave his position. He has more upsides than just not being entirely trustable on defense. I think this guy will surprise many eventually.

I was wondering if any of you knew if it would be possible to send Emelin to Hamilton for reconditioning purposes ? Isn`t it a possibility when a player comes back from a serious injury ? I do not think that playing on the wrong side really is the problem but i just can`t believe how his game has changed since before his injury. I`d rather see him work hard and regain his confidence than look at the game from the press box…

Conditioning stints are possible, however are seldom used. There is inherit risk with sending someone down, injuries, etc. With Elemin, it’s not a conditioning issue, it’s entirely confidence based. He had a major procedure and doesn’t trust himself the way he once did. Hits that he used to flatten guys with are now not even knocking them off the puck. I’m hoping the Olympic break can help restore his confidence. Otherwise, we are left to wait for next season.

Ah, gotcha. I thought you were relating the conditioning stint to the amount of time since the injury. My bad.

I agree with you, there’s no way Emelin accepts one now. I doubt he would even have accepted one right when he came back. There’s peripheral issues for him with the language barrier and all. He has a level of comfort here with Markov and Chucky, I’m sure.

I would have liked to see Bourque in the minors for a few games in addition to Emelin but as Maritime Ronn stated they would need to agree.
It isn’ t so much conditioning that they lack but the opportunity to get a lot of ice time without the pressure of an NHL game that would help them to regain their confidence..

______________________________________________________
“It’s just an opinion- I could be wrong”

why beaulieu? he’s light at 194. georges & bouillon are light. our light dmen can’t handle big forwards. period. i’ll leave it to mb to decide when the time is right for prospects but it seems to me that pateryn is a better option right now. I assume we’ll see him & tinordi up b4 the season is over. I’m ok with sitting emelin temporarily. he needs to reboot because he stank against t.o. & the last few. georges stank too but I guess u can’t sit everyone.
there are very few guys I’d take a chance on trading. depending on what returns we could get, I think we’d be safe trading one or more of georges, diaz, gio & briere. briere prob has little market value.
I don’t know why we are so inconsistent. sounds like a coaching prob to me. somehow I doubt mb pulls the plug b4 the end of the season. bottom line is I’m not expecting much from the habs this year any more.

Cap hits maybe? Klein is signed through 17-18, Zotto is RFA next season. So odds are the Rangers are in the hunt for something big (trade wise). SO who are the Rags looking for that is worth 6-7 million…….Got it! DESHARNAIS! Stay Tuned……

Clearly there are cap implications with del Zotto likely due a big raise. That said, he is a terrific defencemen, 7 years younger then Klein. I like Klein, but they are really totally different players. If you base it entirely on the player and not the cap hit, del Zotto has way more upside and, as noted, is quite a bit younger.

Everybody though he was not one of Tort`s favourite, was sent down to the farm team, sat a few games in the stand but now it`s Vigneault`s turn to come to the same conclusion. There must be something wrong with him other that the fact that he is going to be costly soon. Money never stopped the Rangers.

And to think that this guy was more than highly regarded when he joined the league !

I truly believe he still has it. My wife’s cousin played in the rangers organization two years ago, briefly with the rangers, but mostly in Hartford with the wolf pack. Long story short, we watched his games and I got to see a lot of del Zotto. Kid still has a ton of upside. I honestly think Klein is a good fit for the rangers, but if you are assessing the deal on talent alone, del Zotto will be the better player. Just my opinion. Cheers, CJ

Oh wait, they are always in an uproar. No decision is a good decision.

Therien does not know his place, he should do the politically correct thing and take a poll.

He never makes a correct decision, even if it works out.

Because if it works out it is never mentioned again. Bergevin and Dudley and the assistant coaches are all innocent bystanders. Hopelessly ringing their collective hands together. They cry “what can we do Mr. Therrien is out of control.

The players quietly murmur as they check their bank deposits to make sure their last multi-thousand dollar pay day cleared.

Stay tuned game could be cancelled to save the poor hapless fan anymore angst.

Del Zotto has way more upside IMO. He is 7 years younger. I’m trying to think of the equivalent here is Montreal. Not the best example, but like Georges for del Zotto. Klein is steady, but what you see if what you get. Looking back in 2-3 years, this could be a huge deal for the predators.

Klien $2.9M for the next 4 years – cost certainty.
” Blocks shots with aplomb and can play a shutdown role, if needed. Is mobile and can move the puck up ice. Is also a solid contributor on special teams. Owns a good-sized frame.”

Rangers needed that and are in Cap trouble moving forward with all their RFAs-UFAs

Habs were forecasted to finish 9th-12th by many…and to challenge for a WC spot by some…they have been exceeding expectations and are on pace to make the playoffs…we may be under estimating the effect the loss of Chucky and White has had. But ffs people “chillax”…we were never expected to win 82 games..we are what we are..even the Hawks, Blues and Penguins lose games.

Meh. Surprised that Emelin would sit. He did not have a good game against TO, but he is a core guy who you want to get back up to speed. I understand he is coming off a major injury and is maybe hitting a wall right now, but they haven’t played since Saturday night so its not like he hasn’t had rest over the last 3 days.

Diaz I am not surprised about. Beaulieu can take 2nd PP duties and generally fill the role Diaz plays.

The way I see it, they wan’t Bouillion out there to support Beaulieu, which makes some sense. Bouillion won’t mess around if someone tries to take advantage.

Diaz is the #2 short handed Dman on Montreal (behind Gorges). I still find it interesting that many consider Gorges and Diaz totally useless yet they are the top 2 PK TOI Dmen on the 4th ranked PK in the NHL.

Fair. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t even dislike Diaz, and see him as a complimentary piece who could play on the bottom pairing. But I don’t see him as a core guy. He’s one of the first that will get usurped by the younger guys coming through.

I’ve got no problem if a prospect is ready to step in and take a spot in Montreal. I don’t expect Beaulieu is ready at this point in time to step in and take on the big PK minutes Diaz has been logging. I think others will have to make up that difference tonight. Beaulieu should be fine for PP duty and hopefully hold his own or more at even strength (and try not to do too much now that he is getting in another NHL game). Another step in the right direction for him I hope.

Are the Habs better or worse on the PK this season when Budaj is in nets? I don’t know the statistical answer off hand. I do know that they have allowed 23 goals against while short handed this season. Price (2,318:42 total TOI) has been in for 20 and Budaj (645:29 total TOI) has been in for 3. It seems quite possible that they are better on the PK so far this season when Budaj is in nets.

MT has come up empty. Scratching Emelin. Really?
Tonight, when it’s the 3rd period and he’s standing there with his lips curled into that “Oh!” look, he can eat sh*t.
He’s looking more and more like a doofus. Sorry, Matty, but this is what it is. Can’t wait for him to be back on Anti-Chambre spouting more garbage.

When it comes to scratching Bourque, I don’t have a problem. He has no passion in his game.
Scratching one of the only physical Dmen the Habs have is not very smart. Crosby and Malkin already have 3 small centers to deal with and now have an under-sized and old Cube to dance around. Tonight will not be very pleasant to watch if you’re a Habs fan.

I don’t agree with the decision, if only because it means Frankie is back in. Frankie won’t be playing hockey – excuse me, shouldn’t be playing – hockey next year. That’s my issue with the decision. I understand you play the cards you’re dealt, but there has to be a better solution.

Right back at ya, rule1. Emelin is PHYSICAL. He balances the D. He’s struggling a little coming back from major surgery, but by all means watch tonight and see the Pens cutting through the D like a scythe through the grass when PK and Markov aren’t on the ice. Take note of the 20 chances from the slot they will generate.

I would rather see Emelin in there over Frankie but what the hell do I know. I am just wondering will I see a Stanley Cup, or are we headed for a Leafs like drought? I wish I was around for the 70’s *sigh*

I agree with Diaz sitting… he should always sit. But benching Emelin will unlikely to help his coming back to last year’s level of confidence. Would be better to give him shielded minutes and play him against safe(r) opponent lines (understandably hard to do on the road).

Fucale looks to be a blue chipper, but let’s not forget that team he’s playing on. Not to take too much away from him as you have to be good to win, even with a great team. But Halifax is dominant up front.

So if we were to ask the HAbs management to list our Dmen from 1 to 8. How do you think THEY would respond. Not how you or anyone else with knowledge would, but how would the habs write up their list today?

Chicago, St. Louis, Phoenix, Nashville would be in that discussion. Ottawa, Boston, and sooner or later Winnipeg would be in the ballpark.

(I bring up the Jets as Buff, Enstrom, Bogosian and Trouba are as good a top 4 as anyone but St. Louis from the teams above. If you haven’t watched much Jets, be sure to catch the 19-year-old Trouba in action. He’s +6 and looking every bit like a top pairing guy in the making.)

That’s my point. After Mark/PK we have guys playing a lot higher then MTL has slotted them in. We can hope emelin/Gorges get back to what we feel they should be. What if they don’t. Then we are lacking a #3-4 dman. OUCH!

Gee didn’t think the word “reality” would get you all in knots. Ok, let me change it to… “more realistic look”

Yep, people are a little touchy around that word. To be fair, it’s thrown around a lot here and not always well-used.

I have always, always maintained Gorges was a #5 or preferably #6, so to me the 3-5 spots are open. I do have high hopes for Emelin after seeing him play very good 2nd pair minutes with Markov. Tough to say if he wasn’t just getting a benefit there but I know he can play better hockey. If the coach lets him bloody play.

Re King Hendrik: yeah, I think that counts as a pseudo-scratch. The Swedes are weak in goal; but I guess King Hendrik has the ability to “pull it off” at any given time, so I wouldn’t write them off just yet…

I’m trying to become a BlueJay (was an Expos fan), thankfully with moves like this it is making it much easier. Reminds me of being a Habs fan! Now if only Anthopolous could find a Giant Swedish Middle Reliever.

Another game, another arena where Subban will get booed. A couple of years ago Amanda Stein was surprised PK was booed in Winnipeg and didn’t understand why. Winnipeg was a new market in the league and they looked so nice, why would they boo pk?

Well, she forgot before having an NHL team, Winnipeg had an AHL team, who played the Bulldogs in the payoffs.

From TSN:
P.K. Subban silenced the Manitoba Moose fans who booed him every tie he touched the puck.

The Hamilton defenceman scored his second goal at 6:05 of double overtime to give the Bulldogs the 5-4 victory over Manitoba, and 3-1 lead in the North Division best-of-seven semifinal.

Game 5 goes Friday in Winnipeg.

Subban, who also scored one of six goals in a wild second period, appeared to be targeted by many of the 7,501 fans at the MTS Centre after he sent Moose forward Dusty Collins into Manitoba’s bench early in the first period and got an interference penalty.

“To be honest with you, I’m not going to try to figure out why they booed me,” Subban said.

Habs were forecasted to finish 9th-12th by many…and to challenge for a WC spot by some…they have been exceeding expectations and are on pace to make the playoffs…we may be under estimating the effect the loss of Chucky and White has had. But ffs people “chillax”…we were never expected to win 82 games..we are what we are..even the Hawks, Blues and Penguins lose games.

I dunno — Habs fans boo Crosby, and most woudl trade half the team to get him. I remember a Hamilton-Binghampton game at the Bell Centre, years ago, where Brian Elliott was starting for the Senators and the crowd chanted “Ellie-Ott” for a good chunk of the game. It’s personal, but it’s not personal. : )

—Devils coach Jacques Lemaire on the Daneyko-Kaminski feud – “Daneyko got mad when Kaminski said he was going to knock his teeth out. Dano has only two teeth left, so you can’t say that to Dano.”

I don’t think it’s an internal power struggle. I think it’s an external ‘playing hockey like poop’ struggle.

MT & MB seem fairly collaborative from what we see on 24CH (apres edits of course).
The players seem fairly… un-collaborative… from what we see on the ice (sans edits).

Now, even if MT has lost the room, as some may suggest, I still don’t like that any player would quit. All I want is effort. I’m not even worried about results. If you give full effort and lose, that’s fine. If you half-ass it… booo-urns.

The people who were posting during the game that Emelin was garbage, was a waste of space, and was better suited warming a seat in the pressbox are now expressing their absolute outrage that Therrien has scratched him.

Because their dislike of Therrien supercedes their dislike of Emelin, I guess.

I am not a big supporter of MT, I just can’t get as worked up over this. We are presently stuck with this coach. I am hopeful at seasons end an honest assessment by MB is done on whether or not MT should coach moving forward.

I instead am looking forward to watching Leblanc and Beaulieu. It is my way of coping with a frustrating time in the season.

We have a strange affliction for picking up 6th to 7th ranked D men and trying to craft them into top 4 d-men. Gorges, Boullion, Drewiskie, Diaz all come to mind.
Of course I am still po’d that James Wisniewski was not re-signed. i really liked that guy. Imagine our second pp d-pairing with him on our roster. Instead, we have Boullion and Diaz,,or worse yet Gorges and Diaz. Pathetic.

Not initially. He only signed that big contract after Montreal cut him loose in the off season. He could have , and would have re-signed for far less with Montreal. i think that was a pretty well known fact, had he been signed by the Habs ‘during’ the season. Of course we had that ridiculous policy of not discussing contracts during the season. Who comes up with rules like that. Ridiculous.

His rights were traded by Montreal on June 29th 2011. Montreal’s last game that season was April 27th (knocked out in the 1st round by Boston). They had a very good idea of what Wiz was looking for and decided it was too rich for them. Columbus then signed him to a huge deal on July 1st 2011.

I believe it was either Markov or Wiz, so he would not be a 2nd pairing guy, he would be in Markov’s spot (and already signed for 3 more seasons).

I have no problem with the decision they made at the time not to try and out bid teams like Columbus for Wisniewski’s home run contract. Note they got a pick that turned into Hudon for sending 2 days of his signing rights before he turned UFA to Columbus.

playing terrible or ARE terrible..thats my point. you scratch 2 guys Habs were counting on to be decent and they are not – so you put in an old, slow and outgunned Frankie B and a rookie. doesn’t instill much confidence going into a game vs. the #1 team in the conference.

“most of these moves have worked out ok” – what do you base that statement on? that it works 1 game and then not the next.

MT is a terrible coach- who would remain forever out of work if not for the need for Francophone coaches and Habs team currently does not have enough good players. Period.

Doesn’t mean we can’t beat anyone in the league on any given night however – which I always root and hope for but lets take off the rose colored glasses when looking at tonight’s line-up.

So, I typed up a very detailed (i.e. long) assessment of the Habs, hit submit, and it disappeared. I now submit my scaled down version:

The Habs are an average team at present, with a good/young core, and significant holes in the line-up. I don’t see them as a team that will go far in the playoffs, if they make it there.

Goal – strength of the team…leave it alone

Defense – after Subban/Markov/Emelin parts are average/below average. Beaulieu/Tinordi/Patteryn are better options and the future of the D. Time to start moving them in.

Offense – too many a)underachievers, b)fading veterans, c)undersized players. Time to move some of them at the deadline.

Coaching – team has no identity. Time for a change.

This would likely result in us missing the playoffs, but we’d be better for it in the long run. If MB is truly focused on long term success, I think it’s time to admit that the current roster needs significant change, and then make those changes sooner rather than later. Fans would be OK with it if they knew there was a plan. This team resembles too many of the previous incarnations over the past 20 years.

This is not anything new. Emelin was just a healthy scratch two weeks ago. So, too was Diaz recently. I agree with the poster below (without the need for vulgarity) that Boullion is not an improvement over either one of them.
What really puzzles me is the inability of the GM and Coach, after nearly 50 games and 40 some last season to figure out who can play and who can’t. Who can play with each other and who can’t. Who can play right and who can play left. These little things to me reveal a larger picture of a GM who is struggling to map out a plan for this team and where it is headed. That’s what scares me. All these little tweaks here and there are just band aids. They are also disruptive to the teams chemistry. Determine what you need and go out and make a trade for it. I’m tired of hearing there are no willing trade partners. TO and Carolina made a good one for one trade which helped both players and their respective teams.

…Add to that Beaulieu playing on the Right Side with Gorges- a side he has never played on, and this could get out of hand fast.

Then again, the RDS guys (Therrien defenders) said it didn’t matter what side Beaulieu plays because you know…he’s a defensive liability on both sides….and he should just be happy to have a chance. or as Darche said, if the coach asks him to play forward or goalie, he should just be happy.

Do you believe that playing Beaulieu on the right side is setting him up for success or failure?
And to be dead honest, I’m getting fed up with Therrien always mentioning he is ” Experimenting”
This is Game 50, and few know who they will be playing with from 1 shift to the next…of course with 2 exceptions.

I don’t think that experimenting should ever stop, Ron.
No player is going to be 100% consistent throughout the season (except Plekanec), so you have to constantly be trying things out to see how you can maximise the output of the players who are working well, and motivating the ones who aren’t.

Doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for different results is far worse, in my books!

Why? Because he has been as useful as a piece of Turd because he is no longer the Bull, he brings NOTHING at all to this team at all. The fact that MT still uses the failed experiment of FB on the PP shows the dumb faith this coach still has in this waste of a roster spot

Yeah, it’s his swan-song for sure.
He’s awesome.
As I’ve mentioned before, the arena on my street is named after him because he played there when he was a kid – it’s a pretty rough and economically-challenged area, and for him to pump money into that place is amazing.

Yeah, but I don’t think that’s Bergevin’s fault; everyone was on board with re-signing Emelin, considering how well he played for us.

He hasn’t been the same since his injury, and whether it’s because of the system he’s being asked to play influencing his psyche, or some physical glitch that is throwing him off his game, he hasn’t been the same player he was last season.

Could have waited to sign him then, if there is uncertainty towards his rehab, doctors and coach should have picked up on it before even discussing the new contract.
Anyways, I hope he does pick it up, we have a lot riding on that player.
But if he does not, it will indeed look very bad for Bergevin.